During the 2012–13 season, they played the home games at the Estádio da Luz until February 2013, when they moved to Estádio da Tapadinha to prevent excessive wear of the stadium's grass.[1] In 2013–14, Benfica B moved permanently to their own training ground now capable of receiving professional league matches. As a reserve team they cannot play in the same division as the main team, thus being ineligible for promotion. They are also not permitted to enter cup competitions such as the Taça de Portugal and Taça da Liga.

Contents

As Benfica sought a way to provide playing time for their youth players and reserves it created this B team in 1999, it officially started competing in the 1999–2000 season. After three seasons in the Portuguese Second Division, it suffered relegation to the Portuguese Third Division, where it would spend a further three years.[2] The team achieved promotion to the Portuguese Second Division in 2005. In May of the following year, the board of directors extinguished the side, which returned to activity shortly after as part of the Liga Intercalar. As part of the Liga Intercalar, the club's best league position saw them finish second place behind Estoril B in the south zone of the 2010–11 season.

Before the end of the 2011–12 football season in Portugal, seven clubs in the Primeira Liga announced there interest in constructing a B team to fill the six vacant places available to compete in the Segunda Liga for the 2012–13 season.[3] Of those seven, the six clubs which were selected to take part in the competition were the B teams of Benfica, Porto, Sporting CP, Braga, Marítimo and Vitória de Guimarães.[4]

The LPFP who organizes the professional football tiers in Portugal announced that for the clubs to compete next season they would have to pay €50,000 to register themselves in the league.[5] In addition the LPFP would also require the clubs to follow new rules regarding player selection in which each 'B' team must have a squad of a minimum of ten players who were formed at the club's academy as well as having an age requirement between 15 and 21 years old. The LPFP also went on to saw that the clubs are unable to compete in cup competitions as well as gaining promotion due to the possibility of playing the senior team. Each 'B' team may have 3 players above 23 years old.

In late May 2012, it was officially announced that the six Primeira Liga clubs' B teams would compete in the 2012–13 Segunda Liga which would increase the number of teams in the league from 16 to 22 as well as increasing the number of games needed to play in one season from thirty games to forty two games.[6]